When the Fire Works (14) : Innovation is expected in Destiny City, so seasonal commodities are always expected to sell well. This year, the hot new summer item includes some chemically enhanced logs: carefully modified with environmental and health-safe chemicals, these logs are guaranteed to burn bright, burn long, and burn beautifully. It’s not just a pretty flame: each individual log has several rings that will light up like a sparkler when the flame hits. Larger logs will even pop off small, colorful fireworks for several hours while they burn. Though the lightshow is beautiful, it’s also calm. The logs have a pleasant, earthy smell, and unlike the sounds of normal fireworks, these simply sound like a crackling fire. There’s something curiously nostalgic about these fires; they are able to elicit a sort of childlike whimsy, if only you let them. If not, it’s still pretty.
Hati didn't normally drift towards the bonfires that people held at night in the parks sometimes during the summer. The happy energy was just too much for him, and he only would watch from the dark for any signs of a Negaverse officer being brazen and/or stupid enough to approach and start draining people. It wasn't usually something to worry about, though.
Tonight, however, a fire had been left burning with only a couple of people left—seemingly already asleep. Leaving a fire unattended like that (not to be funny on purpose) burned him up inside with fury. Not only did he need to protect people from the Negaverse, he had to be out here protecting them from themselves. Come on, did nobody know who Smokey Bear was these days?
Especially with those fancy new logs that had fireworks in them. One popped off while he was watching and he winced, slowly moving in closer. He really didn't want to be too near one of those things, but needs must.
Noir Songbird
Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 10:02 pm
Honestly, Akaganeite was fairly pleased with herself. She worked hard and she knew it, and here were the results--a shimmering orb of energy pulled from partying civilians who hadn't even had the caution to snuff out their firework fire when they started falling asleep. She could have done it, of course, but she chose not to.
Why should she look after people who were not responsible enough to look after themselves?
She could have left, of course, but the twinge of a Senshi on her radar had made her pause. Generally, she didn't look for fights, but she was feeling more than a bit triumphant, and her work was done and the energy was secured anyway. Might as well make a point to this interfering fool.
She stepped into the firelight right as a little sparkler went off, staring down the Senshi in front of her in a way that she hoped came across very much as a threat. Her expression was calm, even--but focused entirely on him. And her hand rested on the hilt of her sword.
"Turn around," she said, "or I will make you turn around."
Perhaps this one would be smarter than the alien that had decided to challenge her,t he one she'd left with a bleeding mark on his cheek to remember her by.
So there was someone out here, causing people to fall asleep. Now that he saw her, he could feel what he hadn't been looking for on his aura sense. Okay. He could do this. Her threat was practically meaningless to him.
Stepping forward, he smiled darkly, another firework sparking in the logs. "And just how do you plan on doing that, when you're the one being hunted? Moor Hunt."
He waited a few seconds for the magic to take effect, the two barks from the supposedly hunting dog drowning out all other sound—only momentarily for Hati, but for at least the next thirty seconds for the officer before him. Once he was sure it was affecting her, he launched forward to hopefully tackle her to the ground and prayed that his magic was distracting her well enough that he could do this easily.
Noir Songbird
A deafening silence settles over everyone within a fifteen foot radius. Shortly after the silence falls, two deep barks echo through the area, and suddenly every enemy within the radius feels like they are being watched by a large, dangerous creature. The silence can be disorienting; no matter how loud anything is, while the magic is in effect they cannot hear anything but the barks—and maybe the sound of something heavy breathing just behind them. Or worse, breathing on the back of their neck. Paranoia, anxiety and intense fear for the invisible threat are prominent for the duration of the magic, and may persist for longer if the player desires. This attack affects all enemies within fifteen feet and lasts for thirty seconds; it can be used twice per battle.
Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:11 pm
Akaganeite had intended to scoff. She was not prey, she was a Captain of the Negaverse--that meant that she could weather whatever he threw at her. They were fairly evenly matched physically; that meant that clearly, her blade and her ability to grab starseeds would give her the advantage.
And yet.
Darkness, silence--she had to admit, she was unsettled by the magic, by the way it cut her off and left her (quite literally) in the dark.
And there was something in the darkness with her.
Akaganeite knew she was making a mistake as soon as she took her eyes off the existing, living enemy (or where she guessed he had to be), but the looming monster (maybe, or maybe jsut a trick of her mind and the magic, but she had to look anyway) took her attention; she scanned for a shape, a sign, anything.
And that meant that he crashed into her full-force, taking her off her feet.
s**t. It was too dangerous to swing her weapon around at a range this close, but she had the natural officer's backup plan--using one hand to shove him back just enough to squeeze her other hand between them and shove it in his chest, fingers wrapping around his starseed.
She did not intend to remove it. He did not need to know that.
"Get off me," she said--or she hoped she said it. Her own voice was silenced, but perhaps his magic did not affect him. "Or I will roll your corpse off me."
She hoped it sounded as intimidating as she wanted it to, given that she couldn't hear herself speak. But she punctuated it, regardless, with a squeeze, to make the threat as effective as possible.
Really, Hati should have seen this coming. Why did he always choose to engage like this? He could have thrown a rock at her or something, used more ranged attacking rather than getting up close where she could just... put her hand in his chest the way she was doing now. The grip was like ice in his chest and he inhaled sharply, pressing into her just a little harder.
"Can't get very far with your hand in my chest in the first place," he said, almost pleasantly. "I'd be a pretty heavy corpse for you to carry."
He tilted his head at her, gauging the situation. Was she bluffing? He couldn't be sure... But, well, it wasn't like she'd be able to hear his sassy comment anyway. Shrugging, he gently wrapped a hand around the wrist she had in his chest and rolled to the side so he wouldn't bend it unnaturally—not out of any kindness, but out of a sense she could still just pull out with it if she tried hard enough.
Laying next to her on the ground, so close like this, almost intimately, had him shuddering a bit and ready to bolt home and shower.
Noir Songbird
Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:24 pm
As soon as he was off her, Akaganeite pulled her hand out of his chest and pushed herself to her feet. Clearly her threat had bene appropriately communicated; it didn't matter that she could only guess at what he'd said in reply, his actions said enough.
She gave him a sharp nod, and vanished, teleporting away.
No need to risk re-engaging in a fight she was uninterested in continuing.
